J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Buys 1,718 Shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 29.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,598 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,718 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $685,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 38,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,481,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 2,630 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $240,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 29.7% in the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hanseatic Management Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 1,244 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $112,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. 97.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of NRG Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $126.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $84.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of NRG Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $93.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $86.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.71.

NRG Energy Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NRG Energy stock opened at $112.26 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.57. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $100.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $92.21. The company has a market cap of $22.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.21, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.15. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $51.42 and a 12-month high of $115.38.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is an increase from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is presently 44.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NRG Energy

In other news, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.41, for a total value of $5,484,600.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 64,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,891,191.68. This represents a 48.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bruce Chung sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.63, for a total transaction of $1,952,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,454 shares in the company, valued at $6,780,794.02. This represents a 22.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

About NRG Energy

NRG Energy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy and home services company in the United States and Canada. It operates through Texas; East; West/Services/Other; Vivint Smart Home; and Corporate Activities segments. The company produces and sells electricity generated using coal, oil, solar, and battery storage; natural gas; and a cloud-based home platform, including hardware, software, sales, installation, customer service, technical support, and professional monitoring solutions.